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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24961756">Trauma</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quicksilvermad/pseuds/Quicksilvermad'>Quicksilvermad</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Gun Violence, Head Injury, Post-Concussion Syndrome, Traumatic Brain Injury, Twilight Spitefic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 10:27:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>692</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24961756</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quicksilvermad/pseuds/Quicksilvermad</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Who is this doppelgänger we've been saddled with for the entirety of Eclipse? I'm giving Charlie Swan a reason for his out-of-character behavior.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>35</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Trauma</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Routine traffic stops are never just "routine." He knows this from training that pulling <i>anyone</i> over has the risk of serious bodily harm.</p><p>He knows the danger.</p><p>He just didn't consider it could happen in his town.</p><p>He didn't even think that it could happen to him.</p><p>So when he pulls over the silver Honda Civic with Nevada plates Charlie just dons his hat as per regulations and walks up to the driver's window with his usual casual stride (fingers automatically writing the license number down in his notepad), he doesn't think it'll be any different from pulling over townies.</p><p>He's wrong.</p><p>Before he can ask: "D'you know how fast you were going?" the Civic's window rolls down and Charlie sees the street light shine off the snub-nosed barrel of a .38 revolver.</p><p>He doesn't remember much of what happens after the crack of the shot going off. He can remember noise, the color of the grass on the shoulder as the Honda drove off, feeling cold…</p><p>Jimmy, one of his junior deputies, didn't hear him radio back after his initial call-in and finds Charlie on the pavement.</p><p>His hat is clear across the road and he is damn lucky that Jimmy found him when he did. Head wounds tend to bleed a lot.</p><p>He remembers pinprick sensations of hands squeezing his, of ER doctors asking if he could blink for them, of Sue and Leah's faces waking him every fifteen minutes. Of Leah crying and laughing at the same time when he manages to slur out something about never being able to pull off the "shaved head" look…</p><p>Bella is nowhere in these memories.</p><p>The doctors keep saying things like "you're making amazing progress" and "it's a miracle you're alive, Chief."</p><p>He starts physical therapy and has to relearn stupid simple tasks like tying his boots and walking backwards. Charlie tells Dave, the man he partnered with for five years before his promotion to Chief of Police, that he might not be able to do his job anymore. Dave points out that Charlie has no problem with procedural recall, he just has some short term memory problems.</p><p>He now has a plate in his skull.</p><p>Bella visits him once. He can see Edward out in the hall with Carlisle. When he asks her where she's been, she lies.</p><p>"On the phone with Mom. And I've been trying to keep busy by filling out college applications."</p><p>He feels sick to his stomach when he realizes he can still spot a lie ten miles off but he can't dig up enough righteous anger to call his daughter out on it.</p><p>He sees more of Sue and Leah after Bella's only visit. Sue gives him tips on memory recall and Leah teaches him how to meditate. Things get a little easier then. He's out of the hospital and back training for work.</p><p>His lapses are few and far between now.</p><p>He throws himself into his work and is determined to be <i>perfect.</i> The only trouble he has now is needing to be reminded to eat something. His brain is cracked a little now and doesn't quite get the message of "I'm empty" from his stomach.</p><p>He can't remember when he's supposed to be hungry.</p><p>He can't physically put a voice to his anger towards his daughter.</p><p>Inside, Charlie shatters when he sees her. She's throwing her life away for a <i>guy.</i> It's something he swore to himself he would never let happen when he first held her in his arms. She was going to be Isabella: the Author or Isabella: the Doctor.</p><p>Not Bella: the Doormat.</p><p>There are moments when he wishes Jimmy had been a few minutes slower in finding him with his head almost blown off. But he sees his daughter with that Cullen kid, feels that rage he can't express, and <i>knows.</i></p><p>He <i>has</i> to try and fight the words out of himself.</p><p>He's so angry that his words come out differently than the way he carefully considered them, but he manages to get one point across.</p><p>“I don't think you should dump all your other friends for your boyfriend, Bella.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I wrote this in 2011. In 2014, I suffered a traumatic brain injury that resulted in post-concussion syndrome. It feels freakishly prophetic that I wrote this, as I do, in fact, experience some of the symptoms that Charlie does in this fic. The short-term memory problems and retention of rather useless trivia (I can still remember all kinds of things about movies and art), the word confusion and difficulty expressing what I'm thinking—even the weird "needing to be reminded to eat something." Because my brain <i>is</i> cracked a little now and doesn't quite get the message of "I'm empty" from my stomach.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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